Dry gas meters



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DRY GAS METERS Filed June 23, 1958 4 Shees-Sheet 2 lzw @l2/iol@ G Zvo aire@ Sept. 13, 1960 G- BROOKES 2,952,248

DRY GAS METERS Filed June 23, 1958 4 sheets-sheet 3 u L, "FG o 6% i x y 6R a U W;

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DRY GAS METERS mm June 23, 195s 4'sheets-sheet 4 fb; i MWLQMTSVKW United States VDRY GAS METERS George Brookes, Diggles, Oldham, England, assignor to Meters Limited, Manchester, England, a British com- This inventions relates to dry gas meters and has for its object to provide an improved simplified meter construction wbich lends itself to rapid assembly.

The invention consists in a dry gas meter of the two diaphragm type which comprises essentially three units inside the meter case, namely two outer units which are similar in construction, each of which has a diaphragm compartment therein and has the ports leading to the gas valves in its upper face and also has a flag rod passing therethrough, and an intermediate unit which forms at its opposite sides parts of two diaphragm compartments, the joints between the outer and intermediate units when they are secured together being made by the diaphragms themselves through which gas passages to the compartments in the intermediate unit pass.

The invention further comprises a dry gas meter as aforesaid in which the three units when secured together are supported and located by the meter case which comprises upper and lower sections, the lower section having ledges to receive and locate lugs on the intermediate unit.

Referring to the accompanying explanatory drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation on the line 1-1 of Figure 2 showing a gas meter constructed in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the meter shown in Figure 1 but with the upper section of the outer case removed.

Figure 3 is at its light hand side a sectional elevation on the line 3 3 of Figure 1 and at its left hand side a view looking at a diaphragm chamber in end elevation, the meter case being sectioned to provide this view.

Figure 4 is a detail view to be referred to in the description.

Figure 5 is a section plan view on the line 5 5 of Figure 3.

The meter comprises two similar outer diaphragm compartment units a and b and an intermediate unit c which forms at its opposite sides parts of two inner diaphragm compartments as d. There are flag rods as e extending through each outer unit a and b and such rods are coupled by crank arms f and links g to a crank arm h on a crank shaft which operates the gas valves and the usual index mechanism of the meter. The index gear box i operated by the crank h is formed in the top of the intermediate compartment as shown in Figure 4. 'Ihe crank shaft j operated from the llag rods e by the crank arms f and links g has a single throw crank k therein as shown in Figure l which operates the gas valves as m` by suitable links as n the valves pivoting about fulcrum points at 0. 'Ihe valve m on the upper compartment in Figure 2 is omitted to show the gas ways controlled by the valve.

Each flag rod e is coupled to the'centre piece p of its diaphragm q by a crank r and a fitting s. Each diaphragm centre piece p has steadying rods t passing through bosses u thereon and pivoted at v to the wall 0f the outer compartment unit a or b. The joints between the outer units a and b and the intermediate unit c are made by the diaphragms q themselves as shown at the right hand side of Figure 3 and the gas passages as w from the intermediate unit to the outer units (in which the valve ports x, y and z are situated), pass through the diaphragms q.

The meter outer case comprising a lower portion 10 and an upper portion 11, contains gas at inlet pressure,

the gas inlet connection being shown at 12 in Figure l. The gas outlet connection 13 is coupled in a gas-tight manner with a branch 14 on the top of the intermediate unit c. The two portions of the outer case are bolted together and the diaphragm compartment unit (comprising the outer parts a and b and intermediate part c) is supported by and located in the outer case by lugs 15 on the intermediate part which rest on ledges 16 between cheek pieces 17 in the lower portion.

It will be seen that there are three main parts in the improved gas meter, namely the two outer diaphragm compartment units a and b and an intermediate diaphragm compartment unit c which forms part of two diaphragm compartments as d. Each of such main parts can be assembled with the appropriate fittings as, for example, the gear box onthe intermediate unit c and the valves as m, valve ports x, y, z and llag rod connections f and g on the outer units.

The three units a, b and c may be die castings or plastic mouldings. When the parts are assembled, the diaphragms q make the necessary gas tight joints and so obviate the use of jointing gaskets such as are employed in usual constructions of meter.

The gas valves and their ports and operating mechanism do not in themselves constitute features of the present invention.

For the sake of clarity, however, the nature of the gas ow through the meter is as follows and Fig. 3 of the drawings will be referred to in particular, it being assumed for the purposes of explanation that the valve m has been displaced to the left so that the port z is uncovered and the arcuate portion of the valve m bridges both the ports x and y.

Gas is admitted at inlet pressure into the interior of the outer case of the meter through the inlet connection 12. From said outer case the gas tlows through the port z into the outer diaphragm compartment a where the admitted gas acting on the diaphragm q forces gas from a previous cycle from the inner diaphragm compartment d into the gas passage w. The gas travels from there into the valve port x and thence via the valve port y to the gas outlet connection 13. As the diaphragm moves as above described, the ilag rod e turns the crank arm f and this movement is transmitted via the associated links g and n and the crank h to the valve m which gradually pivots about the point o to a position in which the port x is uncovered and the arcuate portion of the valve m bridges both the ports y and z. Gas then flows into the inner diaphragm compartment d at inlet pressure via the port x and gas passage w` to move the diaphragm q and force gas from the outer diaphragm compartment a into the valve port z from where it passes into the valve port y and so to the gas outlet connection 13. By the time the diaphragm q has fully expanded, the valve m has been moved into its original position where the valve port z is uncovered and the cycle commences once more. Although the operation has been described with reference to only one diaphragm compartment unit, it will be obvious that the operation takes place with both diaphragm compartment units of the meter simultaneously.

What I claim is:

l. A dry gas meter of the two diaphragm type which comprises a meter case, divided into detachably interconnected upper and lower sections, three units inside lthe meter case namely two outer units which are similar in construction, each of which has a diaphragm compartment therein and has the ports leading to the gas valves in its upper face and also has Aa ilag rodpassing'therethrough, and an intermediate unit which forms'atits opposite sides parts of two diaphragm compartments, V'the three units when coupled together being supported and located by parts thereof coming between the upper and lower sections of the meter case, the joints between the outer and intermediate units when they are secured together being made by the diaphragms themselves through which gas passages to the compartments in the intermediate unit pass.

2. A dry gas meter as claimed in claim 1. in which the gear box of the drive to the meter'index is formed in the intermediate unit and the valve ports, with the gas distributing valves and the flag rods and their crank 5 arms are located on or in the outer units.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS o 2,116,046 Schmutz May 3, 1938 2,379,291 Glass June 26, 1945 2,663,189 Butterworth et al. Dec. 22, 1953 2,718,878 DuBois Sept. 27, 1955 2,793,624 Ba May 28, 1957 2,818,046 Evans Dec. 31, 1957 

